1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger, and more particularly, to a heat exchanger, which can independently controls the volume of heat exchange medium flowing through tubes of a left heat exchange part and a right heat exchange part to independently control the temperature of a driver's seat and a passenger's seat, thereby realizing a compact structure since a temp door for controlling temperature is omitted from an air-conditioning system for the vehicle, which can reduce an operating force and increase durability since heat exchange medium controlling means are in a rotational structure, and which can minimize a temperature difference between the right and left sides thereof since the heat exchange medium is distributed to the tubes uniformly.
2. Background Art
In general, an air conditioner includes a cooling system and a heating system. The cooling system cools the inside of a vehicle by heat exchange performed by an evaporator during a process that heat exchange medium discharged by an operation of a compressor circulates into the compressor after passing through a condenser, a receiver drier, an expansion valve and the evaporator. The heating system introduces the heat exchange medium (engine cooling water) to a heater core and heat-exchanges it to heat the inside of the vehicle.
The condenser, the evaporator and the heater core for heat-exchanging heat exchange medium are called a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is provided with the heat exchange medium, and then, circulates it after heat-exchanging it to a proper temperature.
As shown FIG. 1, the conventional heat exchanger includes: a plurality of tubes 5 whose both ends are fixed to upper and lower headers 1 and 3, the tubes 5 being spaced from one another at regular intervals; upper and lower tanks 7 and 9 respectively connected with the upper and lower headers 1 and 3 and forming passageways fluidically communicating with ends of the tubes 5; and radiation fins 11 mounted between the tubes 5 to widen a radiation surface area.
The conventional heat exchanger having the above configuration, in a state where the heat exchanger is installed in an air conditioner, particularly, for the vehicle, the heat exchange medium supplied to the passageway formed by the upper tank 7 and the upper header 1 performs heat exchange with the air around the heat exchanger while passing through the tubes 5 of a side partitioned by baffles, performs heat exchange again while passing through the tubes 5 of the other side after taking a U-tern in the passageway formed by the lower tank 9 and the lower header 3, and then, discharged through the passageway formed by the upper tank 7 and the upper header 1.
The conventional heat exchanger performing heat exchange as described above needs separate controlling means to control a heat exchange capacity according to a heating load or a cooling load since heat exchange medium (cooling water for the vehicle) is supplied without regard to the heating load or the cooling load. For instance, to control the heat exchange capacity of the heat exchanger, the heat exchanger used as the heater core for the vehicle controls the volume of air passing through the heat exchanger by adjusting rotational frequency of an air blast or installing a temp door on the front of the heat exchanger. However, to control the heat exchange capacity by adjusting the volume of air needs a separate device, it cannot provide a secure control.
To solve the above problem, Korean Patent No. 170,234, which has been patented to the same inventor as the present invention, discloses a heat exchanger. In Korean Patent No. 170,234, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the heat exchanger includes: a plurality of tubes 5 whose ends are fixed to upper and lower headers 1 and 3, the tubes 5 being aligned at regular intervals; a partitioning and supplying means 13 connected to the upper header 1 to supply heat exchange medium to the specific tubes 5; and a lower tank 9 connected to the upper header 3 and fluidically communicated with ends of the tubes 5.
The partitioning and supplying means 13 includes: a plurality of connection passageways 15 fluidically communicating with the upper end portions of the tubes 5 combined to the upper header 1; a main body 17 in which inlet sides of the connection passageways 15 are formed within a range of a predetermined angle, the main body 17 having a cylindrical heat exchange medium dividing portion; at least one heat exchange medium supply pipe 21 formed to be fluidically communicated with the heat exchange medium dividing portion 19 of the main body 17; a rotating member 23 rotatably mounted on the heat exchange medium dividing portion 19 and having a rotary shaft 25 on which a blocking vane 27 for selectively blocking entrances of the connection passageways 15 fluidically communicated with the heat exchange medium dividing portion 19 is mounted; and a cover member 29 for supporting the rotary shaft 25 and intercepting the heat exchange medium dividing portion 19.
In the above state, to perform heat exchange with the heat exchange medium using the heat exchanger, first, the heat exchange medium is supplied through the heat exchange medium supply pipe 21 and the rotating member 23 rotatably mounted on the heat exchange medium dividing portion 19 is rotated according to a load applied to the heat exchanger, and then, the blocking vane 27 selectively opens or closes the entrances of the connection passages 15 according to the rotation of the rotating member 23 to thereby supply the heat exchange medium to some or all of the tubes 5.
In case where the entrances of the connection passageways 15 are formed at both sides, the blocking vanes 27 mounted at both sides of the rotating member 23 simultaneously open ends of the tubes 5 to thereby supply the heat exchange medium to some of the tubes 5, and the heat exchange capacity of the heat exchanger is freely controlled since a supplied volume of the heat exchange medium can be adjusted according to the rotation of the rotating member 23.
As described above, the heat exchanger can easily cope with heating or cooling load since it can freely control the heat exchange capacity by making the heat exchange medium selectively flow to the tubes 5 of the heat exchanger.
The heat exchanger can selectively adjust the volume of the heat exchange medium, but has several problems in that a mixing performance of the heat exchange medium is deteriorated and there is a severe temperature difference in right and left temperature between the right and left sides of the heat exchanger since the heat exchange medium guided by the blocking vane 27 of the rotating member 23 is concentrated on tube arrays of one side of the heat exchanger.
In addition, the conventional heat exchanger has another problem in that temperature of a driver's seat and temperature of a passenger's seat cannot be controlled separately since temperature control is applied to the whole of the heat exchanger.